Place of Creativity in Educational Technology: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Educators must keep track on each new strategy, method or application as well as on technologies that is implemented in learning and teaching phenomena. Especially reflections on the use and integration of educational technologies are very important in planning, designing and developing effective uses of them. As the new skills and knowledge required for the manpower of our technology driven societies are being identified, it is not a surprise that creativity is becoming as one of the most important characteristics in our digital age. In turn, being one of the most crucial consequences in students' learning and development, effect of such technologies on students' creativity must be considered carefully.

This study aimed to identify and synthesize articles in "creativity and use of technologies in education" area. Systematic review methodology was used to search one digital library, web of science. The main research question that guided this systematic review was: "what are the impacts of using educational technologies on creativity of students". As the second step of systematic review, main category of keyword was defined by the term "creativity and education. To define the categories of educational technology, the taxonomy based on NMC Horizon Report that illustrated the primary origin and use of the technology was used as; digital strategies, internet technologies, learning technologies, social media technologies and visual technologies. Fifty (50) research articles were determined which published between 2013 and 2015 and indexed in the Web of Science. Those articles were analysed quantitatively based on main categories of general information, methodology, and context. In selection and analysis of the papers, main focus points were the type of education tool or system that is used, and its impacts on creativity.

Both researchers were involved in all steps of the analysis of papers and one colleague had helped for the control of selection criteria. Researchers were carefully gone through a surface analysis by reading the abstract, purpose, result and conclusion parts. Then a set of fifty papers were selected for further analysis. The papers were classified according to above mentioned categories as;

General Information; regarding the title, authors, publication year, journal name, country, no. of times cited, keywords, and discipline.

Methodology; Information regarding the methodology such as research method, number and level of participants, variables, sampling method, type/category of educational technology used, data collection strategies and tools, analysis methods.

Context; Information regarding the discipline and topic studied, and type of educational technology being used

Each of those categories was analysed quantitatively. Quantitative analysis consisted of descriptive statistics (in terms of frequencies and numbers).